Who Are You...Revisited

In the previous entry your beloved author covered the ever-important (
or is it?) way you represent yourself (not your company -
yourself). Are you a "President"? Maybe just a "Consultant"? Something completely different? Now your blogger would like to go up a level and see if you know who it is you work for...or put more appropriately
who your company is. (
Author's Note: For those of you expecting to find some non-traditional marketing techniques to use, like using your invoice or your business cards, rest assured, this is not completely off-topic. You know your author is prone to wandering on tangents, but this is actually, somewhat anyway, on-topic. Really.)
If your friendly neighborhood blogger walked up to you at a friendly neighborhood networking event and in a friendly neighborhood conversation asked you who you worked for, would your answer be a freindly neighborhood answer? Or would it be a quick "I own Joe's Consulting Company"? Your author would propose that if you're only identifying who you work for by name you're missing the boat. It may not look like a big boat, but a lot of little rowboats will fill up a big 110-foot yacht. Let's pretend that you're at a small business networking event because you're a small business. You're milling about, scanning the room for potential clients when you run headlong into a young woman wearing a sharp blue blazer. She introduces herself: "
Hi, I'm Sarah. I work for Sarah's Printing. Who are you?" Pretty standard introduction, eh? (
No, your author is not Canadian) You introduce yourself. "
I'm Joe. From Joe's IT Consulting." The talk moves to the familiar topic of the great speakers, the cheap drinks and the crowded ballroom, then ends, as expected, with an exchange of business cards. Pretty standard encounter, right? A potential client to follow-up with tomorrow, right? Sure. You might get some business from her. It can't hurt to try, anyway, but she didn't seem WOWed by you...you're just like all the other IT consultants around as far as she's concerned. Now let's rewind that a bit and try this a different way. "
Hi, I'm Sarah. I work for Sarah's Printing. Who are you?" (Deja vu?) You introduce yourself. "
I'm Joe. I'm the lead consultant for Joe's Consulting. We specialize in improving sales for small retail businesses." Think that might be a little more catchy? If you're unsure, the answer is "
yes". Why?
Because now you've told your prospective client exactly why they should care who you are. Let's break it down. After the first introduction Sarah knew your name and that you worked for an IT consulting company. That's it. Sarah interpreted this to mean that you fixed computers, because that's what IT companies do, right? So she may have filed you away in the back of her head to call the next time the computer starts acting up. Or maybe not - she knows a dozen IT consultants. After the second encounter Sarah knew your name, that you were the lead consultant for an IT consulting company and that
you could help her. Since she'd been concerned about her sales (they've been lagging this quarter) she's curious. She was intrigued - she thought IT companies just fixed computers! She's wondering what else it was that you can help her business with. So what is really the key? The key is
telling people who you are and what you do, in plain English, in just a few seconds. Do you have your "elevator pitch" (as it's called) ready?